Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 82 (1915/16/19)
Two Serenades, Op. 69 (1913)
Two Serious Melodies, Op. 77 (1915)
Suite from Swanwhite, Op. 54 (1908)
Christian Tetzlaff (violin; tracks 4-7)
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Nicholas Collon
rec. live, September 2022 (Op. 69), September 2024 (Op. 77), studio 2024 (Opp. 82 & 54), Helsinki Music Centre, Finland
Ondine ODE1468-2 [77]
My response to Nicholas Collon’s debut recording of Sibelius’ music with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra three years ago was respectfully lukewarm (review), so I hoped for better from this new, well-filled release – again, of Sibelius, this time of his Fifth Symphony, the much more rarely heard suite from Swanwhite – the Strindberg play for which Sibelius composed incidental music – and four, brief tracks featuring the great contemporary violinist Christian Tetzlaff. Despite the relative brevity of his contribution, recognition of the pulling power of the soloist is reflected in his prominence in the booklet photos alongside the conductor, both casually attired as if out for a summer stroll in Sibelius’ beloved Finnish forests. All these works were composed before and during the First World War and as such bear a certain stylistic and thematic unity.
The Fifth Symphony receives a cool, lucid performance – rather objective, in fact; the great swinging, scything sweeps for the strings are very toned down and the sections where they mutter under the bassoon are recessed, ominous, even menacing, without warmth – but I like the “cantering a-horseback” passage beginning eight minutes in and Collon is good at bringing out orchestral details. The coda is nervous and febrile, scampering skittishly towards an unprecedently accelerated conclusion which some will find exhilarating and others merely rushed. The slow middle movement is similarly understated, very sparing of vibrato, the flutes almost keening and the mood stripped of charm and predominately bleak – an interesting, if somewhat unsettling, interpretative stance. There is plenty of brio about the tremolo opening to the finale but the big horn theme surely lacks grandeur; emotional detachment can lend clarity to delineating the melodic strands but I would like a little more passion – and the orchestra maintains a predominately lean sonic profile. I am neither shaken nor stirred by the limp delivery of the final six chords. Maybe the experience of hearing this symphony should be tipped more towards a plunge into any icy lake than the preceding sweat in the sauna, but I cannot help but feel a bit cheated by Collon’s dispassionate objectivity.
The contrast with the ensuing first Serenade is marked; it is first Romantically uplifting and insouciant but still Sibelian tropes emerge, such as the slow-pacing pizzicato figures and the Mahlerian “forest-hum” of the strings. The second Serenade is more melancholy, tugging at darker emotions and often reminiscent of the Violin Concerto of a decade previously. The Two Serious Melodies do not so much call upon the soloist’s pyrotechnic virtuosity as require attention to sustaining a long, lyrical line. None of these four works is major Sibelius, but Teztlaff’s playing of them throughout is, of course, magnificent: surging, nuanced, sweet of tone, precise of intonation.
I guess the same observation regarding its not being “major” Sibelius may be made of the suite, although it was a success in its day and presents an admirable illustration of Sibelius’ gifts in its colourful, varied orchestration. The additions he made to the original score of castanets and horns in the first movement and features such as the harp in the second and the chirruping robin in the third are charmingly atmospheric.
Ultimately, this is not a disc which much excites me, although I appreciate the opportunity it presents of becoming acquainted with new music, as I was unfamiliar with everything here apart from the Fifth Symphony.
Ralph Moore
Previous review: Dominic Hartley (June 2025)
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